Spring 2017 Episode Rankings – Week 10

It was Berserk’s turn to air a recap episode, adding to what must now be a record-breaking number of them for a single season… thankfully, I’ve been an episode behind since it aired two at once in Week 1, so now it’s just gone from being one of the first things I watch each week to one of the last. No gaps in my lineup this time!

Too soon for this ship to sink! Though more than that, I hope zaShunina doesn’t end up as a villain and getting destroyed now. 😦

Moving up:

A third #1 ranking for Berserk (2017)~ Guts’ new armour should make things interesting, preventing such obstacles as pain and broken bones from getting in the way of his quest for revenge. The blood draining from the sides served as a gruesome reminder that he’s actually taking horrendous damage, however, far more than a regular human could survive. His fight against Grunbeld was awesome. The second half gave us a look at what things were like in the capital, captured by the Kushans and patrolled by beastmen… I’m guessing rescuing the Princess will be the next big ‘quest’, though how likely that is to happen in the remaining two episodes of this series, I do not know.

Big plot twists in Seikaisuru Kado! Not so much the fact that the anisotropic beings created the universe, that was easy to accept given the mind-blowing, physics-breaking powers of Yaha-kui zaShunina’s earlier gifts. His demonstrations of the Nanomis-hein device were cool, even if they were overshadowed by what happened in the last few minutes. zaShunina inviting Shindo to join him in the anisotropic was cute… his reaction to being rejected, a little less-so. 😛 I like how he approached it as casually as I would when restoring a previous save file in a game, to retry a difficult puzzle. No doubt the biggest revelation, however, was that Tsukai was another anisotropic being, the administrator of their world. The only human vocally protesting against zaShunina’s advancements wasn’t a human at all. I don’t know whether this one development will be for the better or the worse, but so far the series has been solid, so I remain hopeful.

That tyrannical laugh… Sana clearly knows she’s being naughty, and I think Zouroku will have a few things to say to her when he finds out!

Moving down:

Not a lot of interest happened in Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho. Albus decides to rid the kingdom of magic, in an attempt to stop the witch hunts and in-fighting… then part-way through making this plan happen, decides to share it with the Sorcerers of Zero. Who promptly arrest her for treason. That was pretty much it. Meanwhile, Mercenary is trying to free Zero, but doesn’t make any progress this episode. Their visit to the merchant earlier in the episode to try and get Zero’s robe back was amusing, but only because of the guy’s extreme levels of perversion. When a rarely-featured side character is more interesting than the plot and the main cast, that’s not a good thing.

Much like Fukumenkei Noise in my previous post, in hindsight I should have talked about Alice to Zouroku last week – ep 8 saw it rise to a record high of #2, following the introduction of Hattori, whose power to manipulate other people into doing whatever she wanted them to was horrendously scary. Nice of her and her friend Ayumi to still pay for things though, at their age and with those powers, I’m not sure I’d have been so well-behaved. 😛 Their decision to freeze Zouroku may have cost them dearly, however… Sana wants revenge, and this week used a Cheshire cat to drag Ayumi into her own wacky Wonderland. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for them both! For now though, Hattori remains free, and is using her powers to great effect at keeping Ryuu and Yamada from taking her into custody.

Inaba’s certainly eccentric, even by this series’ standards. Equal parts cute and deadly.

General comments:

It seems that giving Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism a chance has paid off, with four Top 10 rankings since its weak debut. It reminds me of History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi, with its highschool hierarchy of overpowered and ridiculous fighters. Up until now it had been quite formulaic, if entertaining – Nomura took on the Five Swords one by one, defeating and befriending four despite them hating his guts beforehand, in a way that only makes sense in anime. With Inaba calling him out right after he beat Tamaba, I assumed this trend would continue… but the Empress Amou wouldn’t wait her turn, defeating all Five Swords and their underlings. It’ll be interesting to see what her past with Nomura is all about. All this hassle just to gain permission to leave the school for a while!

Still no #1 for Boku no Hero Academia S2. I’d like to see it happen before the end of the season, but I can’t let that bias influence the rankings. This week’s ep was likely the closest it’s come, with Todoroki finally accepting his fire powers as part of himself, and not an extension of his horrible father. The flashbacks to his past (some of which we’d seen before, but with a little more added) made for a truly sad backstory. But, when it comes to fighting on in spite of grievous wounds, I think Guts has Midoriya beat. 😛 That, and the pacing was a lot slower, with not a lot happening outside of their tournament battle. Midoriya did well, but has reached the limits of what his body is currently capable of; Todoroki, meanwhile, has just doubled in power, and it’s hard to imagine how any of the remaining competitors could beat him now!

A big reason I didn’t like the first series initially was because I found Midoriya weak, whiny and annoying. Not anymore!

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3 Responses to Spring 2017 Episode Rankings – Week 10

There was a lot going on in Kado this week and you are right that the introduction of a new device was very much overshadowed by the revelations in the final few moments. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the shows this season.

Thank you for commenting! I thought Kado’s Nanomis-hein deserved a mention, an object that could rewrite the laws of physics is a very useful, and VERY VERY dangerous prospect. I’d have been happy enough if we’d had the whole episode to just imagine the impact that would have on humanity… but we’re running out of episodes, so I guess we had to find out zaShunina’s motives eventually. 😛